The Westland Scout was a general purpose military light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. It was closely related to the Westland Wasp naval helicopter.

Both the Scout and the Wasp were developed from the Saunders-Roe P.531, itself a development of the Saunders-Roe Skeeter. With the acquisition of Saunders Roe, Westland took over the P.531 project, which became the prototype for the Scout (originally called Sprite[1]) and the Wasp.
The P.531 was developed with the 635 shp (474 kW) Bristol Siddeley Nimbus and the 685 shp (511 kW) de Havilland Gnome H.1000 engine, which flew from 3 May 1960. The production Scout AH.1 used a 1,050 shp (780 kW) Rolls-Royce (RR having acquired Bristol Siddeley by then) Nimbus 101 engine, torque limited to 685 shp (511 kW), and achieved its first flight on 29 August 1960. The Nimbus power ratings were 1,050 shp (780 kW) for five minutes, 685 shp (511 kW) for one hour and 650 shp (480 kW) could be maintained up to 7,000 ft (2,100 m) at 30 degrees Celsius.

The Scout has a rigid tubular skid undercarriage with two oleos connecting the rear cross-tube to the fuel tank rear bulkhead. Despite appearances the oleos act in tension, not compression, damping the reflex action to prevent the aircraft bouncing and ground resonance when landing. Energy absorption on landing is mainly through the two cross-tubes. Additional rigidity is given to the undercarriage through diagonal struts connecting the rear cross tube to the main fuselage longitudinal webs. These struts also help stiffen the airframe vertically and laterally, and are fitted with quick release pins to allow access to the fuselage access panels. The rear cross-tube is anchored centrally and the front cross-tube is fixed to the two main fuselage longitudinal webs. The port skid also acted as a storage tube for the long HF aerial, the skid was accessed via a screw-fixed cap at the rear. The vertical spigot at the front of each skid is used to mount ballast weights to alter the aircraft's centre of gravity.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a British Army Westland Scout AH.1 Observation Helicopter
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